This invention relates to storage racks for large, elongated objects such as recreational kayaks, canoes, sailboards, surfboards, cargo boxes, and the like. The novel storage rack may also hold pipes, missiles, and other substantially straight items.
One shortcoming of prior art racks or shelves is that they are difficult to load and unload. The item to be stored must be lifted to the height of the shelf upon which it is to be stored, or even higher if the rack includes an upwardly-extending barrier designed to prevent the stored item from rolling or sliding off the shelf.
Thus there is a need for a storage rack that is easier to load and unload than the storage racks of the prior art.
Many of the known storage racks are also of complex construction and thus are difficult to assemble and disassemble.
A need therefore exists for a storage rack of simple construction that is easy to assemble and disassemble.
The complex construction of the prior art storage racks is in part because such racks are not made of modular components. Moreover, they are typically made of bulky and heavy parts.
There is a need, therefore, for a storage rack made of modular components. The needed components should be made of strong yet light-in-weight materials that are weather-resistant and durable. It would also be advantageous if such parts could be injection molded.
However, in view of the prior art considered as a whole at the time the present invention was made, it was not obvious to those of ordinary skill in the mechanical arts how to produce a storage rack that supplies the needed features.